Anna May Wong

Hollywood's first Asian- American Movie Star

Anna May Wong

Hollywood's first Asian- American Movie Star

" I was so tired of the parts I had to play. There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indian for Chinese roles."

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ABOUT

Born on January 3rd 1905 in Los Angeles, California

She was the daughter of a laundryman

She starred at 17, in Toll of the Sea, a silent version of Madame Butterfly.

Her best remembered film is Shanghai Express.

She went international and made dozens of films in Hollywood, London, and Berlin.

Anna May Wong was perceived as a Chinese Fetchit, someone whose roles reinforced racist stereotypes. BUT the younger genertation of Asian Americans see her as a pioneering artist who succeeded in a hostile environment that has not altogether changed.

Wong became a fashion icon and had achieved international stardom in 1924

In July 1933, she introduced a cabaret act at the Embassy Club in London. The next two years she took it across Europe.

Behind the scense she was fighting the biggest fight of her career, for the leading role in MGM's production of The Good Earth.

"Im Anna May wong I come from old Hong Kong.But now im a Hollywood star".

In 1933 TIME magazine voted her the "worlds best dessed woman".

In 1938 Look magazine named her the "wolrd's most beautiful Chinese girl".